The present invention relates to a wrist rest for use in conjunction with a joystick type control on a large construction or farm vehicle. With such controls, it is important that an operator's arm remain relatively stationary with respect to the joystick control even if the operator rotates about in the seat of the vehicle.
Large construction vehicles may be equipped with a rotating seat and several joystick like controls for operating various implements associated with the vehicle. Modern construction vehicles may also be equipped with arm rests that are attached to the seat and which support the operator's arm as he operates the joystick controls. In addition, vehicles are known that have non-rotating seats and a stationary arm rest associated with a control panel.
Problems arise with these arrangements since the arm rests are normally attached to the seat and thus rotate when the seat is rotated. Since the operator's arm is associated with the arm rest, this will change the orientation of the operator's arm with respect to the joystick control. Modern joystick controls are extremely sensitive and any shifting of the relative position of the operator's arm and the joystick control could be interpreted as feedback which is undesirable. Further, the prior art arm rests do not allow easy adjustment of the arm rest for operation of more than one joystick. Modern construction vehicles may have more than one joystick and it would be desirable if the rest could be easily adjusted so as to support the operator's arm during manipulation of anyone of several joysticks. Additionally, several operator's may use the vehicle and it is important that the rest be adjustable to accommodate any of the operator's who may use the vehicle. Thus, there has been a need for an arm rest assembly that solves these problems and disadvantages.
It is therefore an object of the present invention provide an assembly that supports an operator's wrist and that remains fixed with respect to a joystick control as the operator's seat is rotated about the vehicle cab.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a wrist rest assembly that may be adjusted into operative position with any one of several joystick controllers.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a wrist rest assembly that can be adjusted to any one of several vertical heights to accommodate various operators and that may be stowed in an out-of-the-way position if the operator deems it unnecessary to use the wrist rest. Moreover, it is an object of this invention to achieve these characteristics with a wrist rest assembly that is sturdy and requires relatively few moving parts.
These and other objects are addressed by the present invention.